Deuteronomy 19:14-21: Bearing Honest Witness

Text Read

Property Boundaries 14 “You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

Laws Concerning Witnesses 15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. 16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Story of Ahab, Jezebel, & Naboth’s Vineyard 1Kings 21

Time does not permit us to read this entire section, but in 1 Kings 21, we find the wicked King Ahab see a vineyard that he greatly desires. So he offers to buy it from the owner named Naboth. Naboth refuses to sell stating that “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” (1 Ki 21:3) King Ahab is vexed and sullen b/c he wants this vineyard, and his wife Jezebel sees this. She asks Ahab what is wrong, Ahab tells her Naboth refused to sell his vineyard and so Jezebel wrote letters in King Ahab’s name and sealed those letters with his seal. In the letters, it instructed the leaders of Naboth’s city to get two false witness to condemn him of a capitol offense, and then the Law would call for his execution. This happens, Naboth is executed, and then Jezebel goes and purchases Naboth’s vineyard and gives it to Ahab to make him happy. Why do I refer to this event? In the background of 1 Kings 21, we find today’s text playing itself out. So keep Ahab, Jezebel, and Naboth in your mind, while we look into Deut 19:14-21.

Text Explained

Property Boundaries

14 “You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark (command), which the men of old have set (your predecessors), in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. A boundary marker was a marker of some sort used to identify where one person’s land ended and another person’s began. This command was would refer to someone who is attempting to slyly steal their neighbor land. We must remember that the promise of God to the Israelites was tied to the Land. It was from the Land that God would bless them and from the Land that they would receive what they needed to survive, to pass on, and to bring to the Lord as sacrifice. To the Israelite, the land represented so much more than simply dirt. The Land was their way of supporting and caring for their life. Someone purposefully moving a boundary stone was not only stealing the person’s property, but it was stealing that person’s ability to work, to survive, and stealing the next generations inheritance. This is the reason Deut. 27:17 pronounces a curse upon anyone who does such a thing. “ ‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ In Hosea 5:10 we see the severity of it “The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.” Proverbs 23:10–11 gives a warning against any who would consider moving a landmark, “Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.” Even in Job 24:2–4 we find moving a landmark spoken of in tremendously severe language “Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.” However, this command and the curse found in Deut 27:17 do not refer only to those who attempt to steal another’s land through subtlety, but also to those who would attempt to use their power/authority to seize another’s property because the moving of the boundary marker was a removal of the evidence of ownership. The story of Naboth’s vineyard would illustrate the importance of the Land to the people. Naboth refused to sell to King Ahab his ‘inheritance’ and so Ahab’s wife Jezebel used the law to have Naboth murdered in an attempt to legally obtain another man’s inheritance. The moving of a Landmark was an extremely heinous act because it damaged another’s life and their means. This is the reason why this one verse is squeezed into this section between the law of Cities of Refuge and the Laws concerning witnesses. Now we come to the Law concerning witnesses.

Laws Concerning Witnesses

15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.” This is actually a repeated command from Numbers 35:30 ““If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.” which is also placed in the context of Cities of Refuge & Deuteronomy 17:6 “On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.” Referring back to Jezebel’s murder of Naboth. The text of 1 Kings 21 tells us that Jezebel found “two worthless men” (vs10; 13) who came testified that Naboth had cursed God, a capitol offense. The reason she had to find two was precisely because of this Law. Ahab, even as king, did not have the legal right force Naboth to sell b/c that would have fallen under the prohibition against moving another’s property boundary. So Jezebel, using Ahab’s name, ordered the elders of the city to set up a trial with false witnesses so that there would have been legal grounds for her to purchase it. So what we find is a Law meant to protect, being used to destroy. Side note: Human nature is such that any Law or any rule that people make, someone can/will find a way to circumvent it or bend it to their evil intentions. That being said, God is well aware of humanities bent for evil. That is the reason He established verse 16-17.

Malicious Witness

16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days the Priests & Judges were God’s appointed representatives, so by going before the Priests & Judges, they were going before the Lord. So Moses brings up the question of a False Witness. Someone who brings a false accusation. (This is the reason for multiple witnesses to begin with.) However, what is the protocol for when it does happen? Verse 18

Conclusion of Malicious Witness Accusation

18 The judges shall inquire diligently literally “seek thoroughly”, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. (Teen Illustration) So, the penalty for being a false witness is the same as what he desired upon the innocent man. For instance, if the false witness made the claim that his neighbor had cursed God. This was a capitol offense. The false witness is trying to get his neighbor killed and attempting to use the Law to do it. Due process would require the judges and priests to seek out the matter thoroughly, interview, etc. At the end, if the witness is proven to be false, that false witness would be put to death, b/c that would be the penalty for cursing God. The Purpose of this Punishment is found in the end of verse 19-21.

Purpose of Punishment

So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity (vs13). The evil is punished, others hear and of a righteous fear of bearing false witness and thus do not copy that false witness, and the False Witness is to be shown no pity. In this way, the Law is Fair/Just (Lex Talionis) It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. This is justice, this is fair. A false witness lied in an attempt to hurt someone, it is fair that what he attempted to do to another would then be turned on himself. But let us return to Ahab, Jezebel, & Naboth.

You see, in 1 Kings 21, the false witnesses were put into place and the elders & leaders of the city were also instructed by Jezebel. In other words, the witnesses were corrupt, the judges were corrupt, the investigators were corrupt and they all corruptly tried and executed Naboth. So then were was his justice. It seems from this point of the story that the innocent was murdered and the guilty got what they desired/wanted.

However, the Lord knew what had been done and in 1 Kings 21:19 the Prophet Elijah, voice of God to the people, comes and pronounces a curse upon Ahab. The same curse that was warned about in Deut 27:17. In 1 Kings, Elijah says, Thus says the LORD, “Have you killed and also taken possession?” (rhetorical question)’ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.” ’ ” You see, even when the justice system that God Himself established on earth fails due to human sin, God still sat on His throne of perfect justice and God judged Ahab & Jezebel for their evil. Later Ahab goes to battle and dresses as a common soldier in an attempt to hide from the enemy, 1 Kings 22: 34 yet we read But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he/Ahab said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.” Ahab then dies of his wound, 38 And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood,...according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken. Later during Jehu’s rebellion, we find Jezebel meet her bloody end. 2 Kings 9 records that when Jezebel sees Jehu coming, she puts on makeup and from a window, she begins to hurl insults at Jehu. Jehu calls to the servants to throw her down and according to the text, they do, her blood splatters the walls and the horses, then the horses trample her, and the dogs eat her. So we find that God judges both Ahab and Jezebel for their many evils including the stealing of Naboth’s vineyard.

What does an innocent/guilty man fleeing to a city of refuge, moving an landmark, and a malicious witness have in common?

Text Applied

With the Cities of Refuge, God had given a place where someone who had accidently killed someone could flee to and in that place, receive mercy. In the judging of people, two or more witnesses were required so that a person was justly condemned. Our text assumes that someone might try to lie/bear false witness against their neighbor and so it requires the judges to seek out a matter thoroughly so that the truth is known. Our text today even tells us that a person who is proven to be a false witness would suffer the same penalty they were attempting to place on the innocent man. Our text goes so far as to say that if a person is being punished as a false witness, they are not to pity that person and by punishing that person, they were purging evil from the Land.

1) God is Just. The thing we are seeing is what many call the Lex Talionis Eye for an Eye. That is fair. When one breaks something, fair/just requires the one who did the breaking to pay restitution for that item. When one takes a life, one is to pay restitution by forfeiting their own life. If a person attempts to bear false witness against their neighbor, that person is to receive the penalty they desired for their neighbor. This is justice. You and I are sinners. The wages of our sin is death. That is justice. That is Fair. It is what you and I have earned. Many in our world claim that God is not just without realizing what justice actually looks like. Their hate, anger, lies, stealing, justice requires eye for an eye. Justice requires that you, the sinner, the one who committed those acts of anger, lies, hatred, etc pay restitution. The payment of your sin is death. That is what you deserve. Do not think that you want God to treat you justly. No one could handle the perfect justice of God, apart from Christ. God is Just.

2) Human life is precious to God. We see in the Cities of Refuge that someone who accidently killed someone had a place to go so that they would not have to pay that penalty. The Law requires life for life, the Cities of Refuge give a place for mercy so that the man-slayer would not need to die. Exiled to the City yes but his life is spared. We see that according to the Law a person could not be executed without multiple witnesses. Both of these tell us that God sees human life as precious. He put in place things to protect and help those who were innocent.

3) God hates perverted Justice. If God is just, then a perversion of justice is a perversion of who He is. We find in our message today that those who pervert justice are to be punished for it. Cursed is the one who moves a landmark, a malicious witness who brings false accusations against his neighbor, the illustration of Ahab & Jezebel all show us that when justice is perverted/mishandled God is not pleased. Yet we can take heart that according to His wisdom, He will judge perfectly.

We should Love what God Loves and Hate what God Hates.

God is just and we should love justice.

Human life is Precious to God and So human life should be precious to us.

God hates perverted Justice and so we should also hate when justice is perverted.